1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system barcode presentation, and more particularly to a secure point of sale presentation of a barcode at an information handling system display.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Mobile telephones are essentially portable information handling systems that have a small housing suitable for use as a telephone handset. Improved processing and communications at mobile telephones have allowed end users to increasingly rely on mobile telephones for a wide variety of tasks. A mobile telephone Internet interface running a secure application or web browser allows end users to access work and financial information from virtually anywhere in a secure manner. Some applications not only allow access to account balance information but also allow a mobile telephone user to make purchases at a point of sale with the mobile telephone. One example of this type of service is LEVEL UP, which generates a quick response (QR) code at a display of a mobile telephone that an end user can present to a point of sale vendor to purchase goods and/or services. The QR code includes an account identifier that the point of sale vendor accesses for payment.
In order to complete a secure transaction at a point of sale, the vendor who receives funds from the mobile telephone user's account has an interface with the mobile telephone user's account manager, such as a bank or credit card company, to verify and transfer funds. The mobile telephone user presents the account identifier to the vendor by generating a QR code on the mobile telephone display that embeds the account identifier, and holding the display proximate to a QR code reader. An end user thus has the ability to obtain goods and services with a “virtual token” rather than presenting a physical token, such as a credit card. To provide security, LEVEL UP uses a proprietary QR code generator so that qualified vendors can read the account identifier. One difficulty with this approach is that an unauthorized user can simply capture an image of a QR code and use the image for unauthorized transactions. For instance, many smartphones have the ability to capture a display as an image and save the image with other photographs. As another example, an unauthorized user can capture the image with an unauthorized use of a QR code reader or by snapping a picture of the display of the mobile telephone. The mobile telephone user has no practical way of identifying the illicit use until a fraud has occurred.